Monday, June 29, 2009

Every night I tell myself I'll wake up early the next morning, so that I can go to work early, and come back home fast too (we just have to put in 9 hours somehow). I always aim at reaching office at 9, and end up going at 11 instead ! Getting up early is a difficult task :(

Today too, I had asked my mother to wake me up and she started yelling at me from 6.30 a.m. onwards.. Finally, after a lot of screaming and me hitting the "Snooze" button a good number of times (yes, I had set an alarm too!), I opened my eyes at 7, digging matter out of my eye, and thinking about what the rest of the day would be like.. Monday morning! I SOOOO wanted to go back to sleep and just then I saw that my dad was up too, thanks to my mother's screams in an effort to wake ME up!

I was all ready by 8.15 a.m., and left my house. It was pouring outside. I had a windcheater on, but carried my umbrella as well in order to not wet my bag, and walked to the station. The umbrella kept brushing people's faces

(courtesy my height-- i'm only 5 feet tall !!), it even struck a lady's eye which I realised after she cursed me in some language I can't make head or tail of ! My brother (who's almost 6 ft) later commented that umbrellas should be made illegal for people of my height! x(

I finally made it to the platform, walked towards the ladies section, and waited for my friend as the public loo stinked badly. I had to let go of the 8.40 local as she wasn't there yet. I kept calling her as I couldn't take the stink anymore. She finally made it just in time for the 8.49 local. As if the platform stink wasnt enough, the entire ladies compartment was smelling of fish. Apparently, some fisherwomen had got into the Ladies' instead of the luggage compartment, and the train was so crowded we hardly managed to find a place to stand. Soon enough, as people kept alighting and boarding, it got even more crowded..

I thought I'd die of suffocation! After a lot of pushes and ladies fighting for a place to stand, we were pushed out of the train at Vile Parle station! We had to wait for the next train to arrive. I finally made it to Goregaon station, and took a bus from there to work. I reached office at 10. An hour late than what I had aimed at, but all in one piece atleast!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Had got a forwarded email a long time back about Bombay, and people kept adding a line or two about this wonderful city to the list, and kept passing it on. Was tweeting from that list the other day (#bombay) and got requests from many Bombayites asking me to mail the entire list to them. I don't really have anyone on my mailing list, so I thought I might as well put it up here, so everyone can read them! Enjoy :)P.S. The list is too long, you might wanna read it in installments :P

You know you are from Mumbai (Bombay) when--1. You say "town " and expect everyone to know that*this means south ofChurchgate.

2 You speak in a dialect of Hindi called 'Bambaiya Hindi', which onlyBombayites can understand.

3. Your door has more than three locks.

4. Rs 500 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.

5. Train timings (9.27, 10.49 etc) are really important events of life.

6. You spend more time each month traveling than you spend at home.

7. You call an 8' x 10' clustered room a Hall.

8. You're paying Rs 10,000 for a 1 room flat, the size of walk-in closetand you think it's a "steal."

9. You have the following sets of friend: school friends, collegefriends, neighborhood friends, office friends and yes, train friends, aspecies unique only in Bombay.

10. Cabbies and bus conductors think you are from Mars if you call theroads by their Indian name, they are more familiar with Warden Road,Peddar ? Road, Altamount Road.

70. You say that Pani Puri is waayy better than Gol Gappa's even whenthey're the same thing(70-75 Dhavan Vora )

71. There is always one 'pan-wala' on the corner of street

72. You keep spare candles in the kitchen just in case there's a powersurge.

73. To you, your watchman doesn't have a name - you just call him'watchman'.

74. You aren't surprised when somebody throws a water balloon at youwhile you're walking on the streets during March.

75. You know of certain theaters where you can go for A-rated movieswith your friends, even when you're under 18.

76. whn u r standing at a bus stop near juhu beach and sum random guycomes up to u and says " boss" short term, long term chahiye kya(saatvik)

77. When every rickshaw looks like a personal disco, with neon lights,loud music and pictures of film stars.(amrryn)

78. seeing "Mein Kampf" being sold openly on the streets in abundanceseems like a perfectly normal thing to you.(Patrick Weyers)

79. you have to pay international roaming fees when you use your cellphone outside of Mumbai.

80. you can only smile forgivingly about the size of any other city inthe world.

81. you consider the local train "empty" when you find a spot for yourtwo feet to stand on.

82. when someone asks u "east" or "west" side of a particular station?

83. when there is a saffron rally every 3 months , n u just wonder ,whats it all about , u jus went to vote , 3 months ago , n they rholding elections all again?

84. when "chalta hai" is the most commonly used word

85. when u see hijraas/eunuchs at street asking for u to lend them somemoney , with a very very catchy one liner : eeeee deeeeeeeee naaaaaausually on fridays.sometimes men even get grooped when they dont pay 'em

86. when u can find hukkas for use at a coffee shop the equivalent ofstarbucks (Vishal prabhu)

87. when u never cross the road at a zebra crossing

88. when u can always find a car that has a dent or scratch on it

89. When u find cars on the Road even at 4 in the morning(Trish bose)

90. You never learnt how to stand in a queue

91. You have mastered the art of bargaining in shopping.

92. Every time you speak Hndi in front of a Delhitite they have the WTFexpression on their face.

93. You have hung on to dear life at the local door.

94. You still refer to a car / vehicle full of girls as "Maal Gaadi" -left over from the "Ladies Special" days...

95. You take the "Weight and Your Future for Rs.1 only" machines at thestations seriously. ... At least the Future bit, it always exaggeratesabout the weight.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

It finally rained this weekend and my dad suggested we all go shopping for rainywear together.. I cancelled my plans for the day and got all excited.. It had been a long time since I went out "rainywear shopping" with them and it reminded me so much of my school days.

We'd have 4 exams every year- 2 quarterly and 2 half yearly, and we'd wait for the academic year to end so that the summer hols could start and we could play as much as we wanted to! But right after they started, we'd complain about the heat and would want it to rain.. Soon enough, May would come and go.. and we'd be out shopping for new books, a new back-pack, water-bottles, pencil boxes and what not!! And of course with it also came the rainywear shopping. My parents, my brother and I would all go out on a Sunday, usually a day before the school could re-open, to buy raincoats, gumboots and umbrellas!

We'd wear those full length raincoats and huge black gumboots, and jump in puddles of water splashing it all around.. How we cringe at kids who do that now!

We'd wade through knee-deep water, make small paper boats and float them..

We'd hope for it to flood just so that we get a day off from school.. (most of us STILL do that! :) )

One tradition that my building folks followed was Carrom. When monsoon set in, we'd all gather at my place.. Children, our parents, their parents.. all became one when it came to playing the "29 point game" or "paisa-paisa" on the champion board while it was pouring outside..!!

The board's no more now.. Gone are those days too..

Now all we do is snuggle up on the couch and watch movies at home...and children have taken to video games and the like...!!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Recently finished reading this book "Playing" by Melanie Abrams and it is, by far, the most disturbing book I've read.

The story revolves around Josie, a high school student studying anthropology, who becomes a nanny for Tyler, a 6 yr old boy with an obsession for counting. His mother Mary reminds Josie so much of her own that she is drawn to her and agrees to be a part of her household. Mary's crush Devesh, an Indian, almost twice Josie's age falls for her and Josie too is attracted to him.. He evokes her dangerous desires.. She wants him, needs him, loves being tied, stripped and beaten by him repeatedly and he tells her that those are just games that they play and that it's absolutely okay to want such things. She bears the guilt of committing a horrible crime in her childhood and craves to be punished this way. It becomes her need, her addiction...

This book maybe an interesting read but it'll leave you questioning her mind, her desires and whether such people do exist. And of course, the kind of things guilt can do to people...

Monday, June 15, 2009

My mother always tells me I'm very lucky and she attributes it to my joint eyebrows :D I never believed her until last month. Just a week after I wrote a post on jobs and recession, I got through an interview with Directi Internet Solutions, and I'm now a software engineer operations associate! :)

The entire process lasted for a good 6 hours..!! There was an aptitude test

(logical,analytical,arithmetic,english), an essay-writing test, a letter writing test, an Excel test, a technical interview, and a 2 hour long personal interview!! After all of it was over, I really didn't care about getting selected or rejected. All I wanted was to go home and get some rest. I was actually surprised when I was told I was selected, was to join on the 1st of June and the package offered was also pretty decent (a LOT for a fresher actually!). The interviewer scared me, he took my case royally, and when I found out he's my mentor, I was all the more worried and thought of how I'm going to put up with him..! But now I realise how wrong I was.. he is actually the most approachable and knowledgeable person in the whole team, and I'm actually lucky to have him as my mentor! The company is amazing too, it's very flexible as far as timings are concerned, and the best part-- no dress code! I actually see people coming to work in shorts, who look like they bathe every New Years! This company also has a small "tuck-shop" (snack bar) where you can treat your stomach for free :D , and I simply love the hot chocolate there, not to mention the freshly squeezed sweet lime juice :)

The first couple of days were hard, I felt like I had started working too early and SOOO wanted to go back to college.. By the time I came home, it was time for dinner and there was nothing left to do but sleep. Felt like I had no life! A week later I enjoyed the workplace so much.. now I don't feel like coming back home too soon! :D

On Friday, I got another sweet surprise :) My results were out! It was all unexpected.. I was hoping for them to be out by the end of this month...was walking back home from office that day, when I got a call from my classmate telling me I've passed with first class! I didn't believe him at all.. I hadn't really thought I'd score that much!! I came home and checked out the university website, kept hitting F5 a good 10-20 times till I was convinced it was my result :D And I still feel I don't deserve it considering how I had studied... I would promise myself that I'd stay up with my books till 5 in the morning and revise atleast twice, and would fall fast asleep at 12.30 ! :D I remember orkutting and chatting on Gtalk just 3 hours before my exam could start, followed by playing loud music! It was a pattern that most of us followed as our "Stress buster" ! I'd come out worrying after every exam, hoping I'd pass... I still fail to gather how I got a first class and stood 5th in college :D

Like all this wasn't enough, my mentor (whom I thought was scary and hostile) congratulated me with a banana-walnut cake from Ribbons and Balloons, which I cut for my whole team. And it was DE-LI-CIOUS! :)